106 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Feb. 13. 



use, I don't remember to have seen it. I never before saw it 

 charged against bee-escapes that it caused the bees to tear 

 holes in the sections. Indeed, that is one of the strong points 

 claimed for them, that the bees, being less frightened than by 

 any other way, will not tear holes. To give a direct answer to 

 your question, my own experience makes me believe that in no 

 way other than by bee-eseapes can I get bees out of sections 

 with less tearing. At the same time I must say that I gener- 

 ally get them out by older methods without any tearing, and 

 as it takes longer time with the escapes, I use them much less 

 than many others. But at times I value some sort of escape 

 highly. 



^ I ^ — ■ 



MakiiiiT ISugar Candy for Feeding^. 



I wish you would tell how to make sugar candy from 

 granulated sugar and water; how to get it hard, and in what 

 form you make it. If in a pan (to form it) will it not stick to 

 the pan, and be hard to get it out? G. D. 



Answer. — To tell the truth, I don't make it at all. I pre- 

 fer to feed the bees plenty of sugar and water — providing they 

 need feeding, or will need feeding — early enough so there will 

 be no danger of scarcity through the winter. But if I had 

 bees that were in danger of starving before spring, and had 

 no combs of honey to give them, I should prepare candy for 

 them after the instructions given in Root's " A B C of Bee- 

 Culture." Take good, thick honey of the very best quality 

 you can get, and warm it till it gets very thin. Then stir in 

 pulverized sugar as long as it will take up the sugar. When 

 it won't take up any more sugar, take it out of the dish and 

 knead it with the hands, adding what more sugar it will take, 

 making it a stiff dough. Then lay cakes an inch thick, over 

 the frames. 



If, however, you have no extracted honey, you may be 

 obliged to make the hard candy out of sugar alone. Sprinkle 

 granulated sugar into a dish on the stove containing hot or 

 boiling water. Use a little more than twice as much sugar as 

 water. Let it cook until a little of it dropped into cold water 

 becomes hard. Then pour it into shallow dishes previously 

 greased. If about an inch thick it will be in good shape to lay 

 over the frames. It will be easier to get it out of the pan or 

 dish before it gets entirely cold. 



Prcpariug Bees for Movfiis 



1. How should bees be hxed for a trip of 300 or 400 

 miles, by railroad ? They are in frame hives. ::zj l_: 



2. Where can I buy sweet clover seed, and what would 

 probably be the cost per pound. S. W. S. 



Dumont, Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. First of all look out that they have plenty 

 of air. Just how that can best be given depends upon the 

 kind of hive. With almost any hive, however, you can have 

 a frame covered with wire-cloth to take the place of the cover. 

 If the hive has loose-hanging frames, they should be made 

 fast in some way. One way is to drive nails through the ends 

 of the top-bars into the rabbet, not driving them in so deep 

 but that they can easily be drawn out by a claw-hammer. Or 

 you can make sticks about as long as the depth of the frames, 

 pushing them down between the frames at each end. At the 

 top end of each of these sticks drive through an inch or an 

 inch and a half wire-nail so the stick can't fall down between 

 the frames. A sponge with water laid on top of the frames 

 will be a good thing, especially if the weather is hot. Place 

 the hives in the car with the frames running parallel with the 

 railroad track, so they will the better stand the bumping of 

 the cars. Better have the hives in some way fastened in their 

 place so they won't be shot all over the car every time it is 

 bumped. 



2. I never knew so much call for sweet clover seed as at 

 the present time. Last year the home supply gave out and 

 there was none to be had except what was imported. That 

 would probably have the effect of stimulating the home pro- 

 duction so that there will likely be plenty of it to be had this 

 year. Watch the advertising columns, and you will see who 

 offers it. 



Xlie McEvoy Foul Brood Xreatment is 



given in Dr. Howard's pamphlet on "Foul Brood; Its Natural 

 History and Rational Treatment." It is the latest publication 

 on the subject, and should be in the hands of every bee-keeper. 

 Price, 25 cents ; or clubbed with the Bee Journal for one year 

 —both for SI. 10. 



\M\mi 



How Many Queens from a Nucleus ? 



My average number from a nucleus, during the past ten 

 years, has been about two a month. Some nuclei do better, 

 others not as well, so that it is always well to calculate on 

 having a few more nuclei than you really expect you will need 

 to fill all orders ; and even then, if your case proves anything 

 like mine, you will be obliged to return money for some un- 

 filled orders at the end of the season. — G. M. Doolittle, in 

 Gleanings. 



Big Hives and Swarming. 



Dr. Miller says in Gleanings: " Nearly every year, for 

 several years, I have had in each apiary one or two colonies 

 as a sort of reservoir, in which were put frames of brood or 

 honey to be taken care of, and to be drawn upon whenever 

 needed. These ' piles,' as we called them, would run up three 

 and four stories high, and it always seemed to me that they 

 stored more honey in proportion to the number of bees than 

 other colonies ; and like your ' hummers,' not one of the 'piles' 

 ever offered to swarm. But then, one reason for their not 

 swarming may have been that they were weak colonies at the 

 beginning of the harvest — too weak to take sections — and their 

 growing strong was a work of degrees. 



"Against the view that room alone prevented swarming, 

 stands the fact that, in the past season, preparations for 

 swarming were made in colonies having two stories, one of the 

 stories being very little occupied, and no excluder between." 



Foul Brood. 



I have boiled the honey from diseased colonies and added 

 one-half ounce salicil and about 60 pounds of honey, and fed 

 the bees, with no bad result. That a spore of any bacilli can 

 stand boiling for hours with Impunity, as some Americans say, 

 is a thing I cannot accept. A bullock would not only be dead, 

 but tender at the same time, but a spore shall come to life 

 again ! — W. Abram, in Australian Bee-Bulletin. 



House-Apiaries . 



I have had the pleasure of handling bees in a house" 

 apiary for the past six years, and I indorse all that has been 

 said in favor of them, and will add that this is certainly the 

 way to care for bees in order to save labor, which, you will 

 agree, is the greatest item of expense in the production of 

 honey. 



To be sure, the common out-door hive must be used, rest- 

 ing on shelves ; the building painted in colors, large openings 

 not less than 4x8 inches, cut in various forms. These are 

 closed iu the fall with a slide or board on the inside, with 

 small auger-hole, or slat, to admit entrance to hives. In set- 

 tled winter weather a board closes all up tight on the outside. 

 For admitting light, one opening with shutter is sufficient for 

 every two hives. Don't make the building too large, I. e., to 

 contain any more cubic feet of space than is necessary for 

 convenience in handling, on account of being much better for 

 wintering if in close quarters. 



A raised earth floor will keep dry, and does not sound, or 

 disturb bees, when walking, or working with them. — E. E. 

 Slingerland, in Gleanings. 



Burning or Water-Soaking Wax. 



While it is true you can burn wax with direct steam, or 

 live steam, you can hardly do so by sending that steam into 

 water and transmitting the heat indirectly from the water to 

 the wax. Wax will never burn when over water, because it 

 can never get hotter than the boiling-point. The trouble with 

 your wax is probably not burning, as you suppose, but water- 

 soaking the wax. While in this condition it is quite spongy, 

 and appears as if it had been ground up into meal. When a 

 handful of it is grabbed up it can be pressed together, and 

 the water can, be squeezed out as from a sponge. The only 

 way of restoring such wax is to subject it to a dry heat, where 

 the water can pass off. The solar wax-extractors are the best 

 means of rendering such wax back to its cake form. Trays of 

 such wax placed in the stove oven will also dry it out. — Glean- 

 ings. 



